Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
Zaif, one of Japan’s major cryptocurrency exchanges, said seven clients managed to get bitcoins for free, during a 20-minute system glitch last week, reports Reuters. During the period the price calculation system of the exchange failed, letting clients to get cryptocurrencies for nothing.
One of the clients managed to “purchase” $20 trillion worth of bitcoins and then tried to sell them for JPY, again on Zaif, reports the leading Japanese daily, The Asahi Shimbun. Word spread on the internet that someone was selling 2,200-trillion-yen worth of Bitcoin and users flocked to the exchange.
After discovering the error, Zaif voided the transactions, but, according to Reuters, was still in negotiation with one of the lucky clients who got bitcoins for nothing and tried to transfer them from the exchange.
The glitch landed Zaif in hot water with the regulator Financial Services Agency (FSA), which investigation into the safety of the system and other business practices.
Zaif is owned by the fintech company Tech Bureau. It is one of the 16 Japanese exchanges licensed by FSA, which has been quite busy with its cryptocurrency charges and the $530 million heist of Coincheck in the end of January.
Japan is the first country to recognize bitcoin as a legal payment method and to regulate the cryptocurrency exchanges.
